Amy Robach has interviewed a long list of influencers—from Oprah Winfrey to Taylor Swift to Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai—in her long career as a broadcast journalist.

But in November 2013, she became the story. After undergoing her first-ever mammogram on-air at Good Morning America (GMA), where she had worked as a correspondent since 2012, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40.

“‘I had been carrying around a mammogram prescription for a year,” says Robach, now 42. “Honestly, I didn’t skip it because I was too busy. I just didn’t think I needed one. I have a ginormous Catholic family and no one has ever had breast cancer.”